“Why am I here?” Azekiel repeated. “I’m here to get to the lower floors.”

“Hmm?” The reflection was quite curious but didn’t question Azekiel.

“I can take you there. As you’ve cleared floors in your realm, I also have access to them in the mirror Realm. So which floor do you want to go to?”

The reflection didn’t know why Azekiel wanted to go back to the lower floors here, but he was certainly quite curious. He believed he could guess the answer as long as Azekiel could tell him which specific floor he wanted to go to.

“I want to go to the eleventh floor.”

“The eleventh floor? I see… So you’re here for the Inverse Key?” The Reflection asked. Even though he couldn’t read Azekiel’s mind, he still had the same level of information as Azekiel about things like this. “So you’ve finally decided to do it?”

Azekiel didn’t answer right away. Instead, he started leaving the hall. He already knew how to get to the lower floors. He just had to understand this place better as all the paths were swapped. The right path led where the left led in his realm and vice versa. So he had to do everything opposite.

It was a mental headache for him to get adjusted to it, but he still went with it.

After an initial struggle, he did manage to come out of the castle, only to be even more stunned by the outside world.

“This is definitely going to take some time,” he muttered. Everything was the same yet different in the mirror realm. That’s why, before selecting any path, he had to make sure that he didn’t take the wrong path.

“This way,” Azekiel’s reflection also came out of the castle. “It’ll be faster if I lead you.”

The Mirror Reflection of Azekiel started flying away in a specific direction. Azekiel also flew behind it, observing the world. What used to be on his left was now on his right, and that wasn’t the extent to the strangeness.

Fortunately, the Mirror Reflection knew this place like the back of his hand.

The Mirror Reflection could simply use the Escape Crystal to get to the lower floor directly, but his escape crystals weren’t going to work for Azekiel, and Azekiel’s Escape Crystals weren’t going to work in the Mirror Realm either. That was why they had to take a longer route this time.

After some time, they reached the Portal that led them to the seventeenth floor.

The two of them flew inside the portal, coming out on the lower floor, but they didn’t stop moving. They still had a really long way to travel if they wanted to go to the eleventh floor without the escape crystals.

“Do you already have the main key?” The reflection asked Azekiel.

Azekiel brought out the key that he had modified inside the Castle of Infinity.

The key looked red in color now, but it was also emanating an aura of its own.

“You’ve already merged it with your Blood as well. I see. Not bad. I suppose you’d want me to merge the inverse key word by blood as well?”

“That would be ideal,” Azekiel nodded. “I need the inverse key to be awakened as well. And your blood will be perfect for it. If I awakened the inverse key with my blood, outside the mirror realm, the effects will be reversed. If it’s your blood that it’s linked to here, then after I leave the Mirror Realm, the key will be bound to me instead since you’re my mirror image.”

“I understand that much. It’s not a bad plan, honestly. But still, are you really sure you are ready for it?” The reflection asked again. “You seem quite weak. At least compared to that time. Even if you use the keys and did manage to get… there… Can you still do anything?”

“Who says I’ll be using the keys at this moment?” Azekiel shook his head. “It’s for the future. I will be needing both the keys, and I’m preparing them in advance. Moreover, isn’t it good?”

” Last time, I couldn’t enter the mirror realm when I was at my peak to get the inverse key because it was too weak for me. The Mirror didn’t allow me to pass through because of how strong my soul and my body were. However, now that I’m weaker, that’s what allowed me to get here. So it’s better this way,” Azekiel explained why he was here at this moment and not in the future.

“I see. The Inverse Key will certainly be quite powerful in your realm, especially if you merge it with the main key. But that will also be quite risky, no matter how strong you are. I think you should drop this plan…”

“And do what? Forget everything that happened?” Azekiel snorted. “Stop talking like that old man. I’ve had enough of a headache with his words. You might be my mirror image who is supposed to think from a different perspective than me, but even you shouldn’t be this stupid to think that I would actually forget everything.”

“I’m different from you. You’re right. It might be because I was born inside the Mirror Realm, but I can see the benefits of the old man’s words. The man really wanted to help us. Raphael and Lia need you, and you need them. Don’t tell me you really feel much happier traveling alone?”

“Of course I do. I am very happy. I am free to do anything I please without having to be tied by any weakness. Why won’t I be happy? My journey so far has been much faster than it would’ve been with the nice guy act. Why would I need them?”

“Moreover, it’s not like they are running away anywhere. After I’m done with my goals, I’ll bring them back to me.”

“Will they really want to come back to you?” The Mirror Reflection asked. “I know you don’t like talking about this, but it’s worth thinking about.”

“Stop acting like they are my real family members that I can’t leave without. They don’t hold that much importance!”